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Thursday, March 31, 2016

On Privilege

What do I mean by “Privilege”?
Privilege is a set of advantages that I receive, without earning
them, merely because of my birth circumstance(s).
Privilege is different than prejudice or “ism”s. As a person of privilege, I get the advantages
even if don’t have prejudice and don’t engage in
overt oppressive activities like sexism or racism.

Some examples of my privilege as a white man include:
• I can go to any workplace and expect to see people who look like me
• If I make a mistake, no one will say that it’s because white people are
stupid
• The lead roles in movies and tv shows are usually of my color and
gender
• If I have children and a career, I won’t be called selfish for not being
home with the children
• I am more likely to get a job than an equally qualified applicant who is a woman and/or person of color

You may say: “But I have struggled!
I don’t have privilege!” Privilege isn’t about whether I am powerful,
wealthy, have a good job, have worked hard all my
life to get where I am, or struggle every day.
Privilege is simply unearned advantages I get
because I belong to a group.

Now that you know about privilege, what can you do about it? You can:
• Read about privilege
• Stay on the lookout for other privileges you might discover you
have
• Belive the life experiences of people with less privilege
• Ask yourself if your actions or policies reinforce the advantages
of certain privileged groups
• Don’t “help” less-privileged groups - it robs them of agency. Instead amplify their voices (retweet, etc)